Trethinville (D
Begin with Ianthe and Skean at Ilga's Antiquities and the Shaded Market. Ilga's offerings: * Compound Longbow +1, nonmagical, distinctive Shaolei design, with brass pulleys and metallic string. 550gp. * 20 Arrows +1, strong smell of iron; Ilga swirls the arrowheads in water, and they turn the water misty red; she then licks the arrowhead, nods, and says it tastes like blood; then she offers the characters a lick. 500gp. * Potion of Animal Friendship, syrupy liquor, smelling of tangerine. 200gp. * 3 Prippet's Potions of Superior Predictable Repair, looks like a normal Superior Healing Potion, but heals the maximum amount (40 hp). 400gp each. * Ring of Mind Shielding, a simple platinum band, remarkable not only for its magical properties, but also for the soul bound inside. Ilga offers to let you sample the ring. Inside is bound the soul of an Ostergauen wizard from the Myriad, named Hans Hindenburger. He was a member of the Shadow Academy who died when the towers collapsed on Bahd Aireal. He is relentlessly pessimistic and overly cautious. 4000gp. When Ianthe and Skean return to the Snapping Turtle Tavern, they see a scene of carnage. A Gnomish woman in leather armor, with short purple hair and wielding two thin swords, is covered in frost and icicles. Her hair and coat are frozen solid in a blown-back position, like a statue of a woman standing in strong wind. She stands over the bloody corpse of a red-haired Halfling woman in green robes. The Gnomish woman has a wild look in her eyes, her breath heaving, lips snarling. She looks almost exactly halfway between "wild animal" and "pure glee." Wheat is standing nearby, leaning heavily against the outside wall of the tavern, looking exhausted. There is another dead body near Wheat - a roguish human archer, in brown leather, slumped over the tavern's windowsill, his upper half inside, while his legs and lower half dangle outside. The door of the tavern looks frozen shut by what must have been a blast of lethal freezing wind - what you imagine the aftermath of a white dragon's breath might look like. The entire exterior wall around the door is frozen, too, except for a half-giant-sized humanoid silhouette of unfrozen surface, like the shadow of a person who took the brunt of the freezing wind at nearly point-blank range -- that would be the Gnomish woman you see. Inside the tavern, the battle has just concluded. Fenri, Exarch, and Lando stand over the unconscious bodies of two human warriors in heavy armor -- one a man with an 8-foot long polearm; the other a woman with a hulking greatsword. A bald Ashenzi cleric with a tall shield kneels over the bodies, ensuring they are stabilized. A roguish fencer with a pompous mustache has surrendered in the corner. Geoff, meanwhile, stands near the bar, which for some reason is soaking wet. Tables and chairs are burned and tossed haphazardly aside. A charred chandelier of melted candles has snapped and fallen from the ceiling. The tavern's proprietor, a one-legged Gnomish woman named Jerri, has a forlorn, defeated look on her face as she surveys the damage. She pokes at the rubble with her crutch and sighs. If the party lingers, Mr. Bundy shows up. You see two ogres (Trog and Snot) and a small company of soldiers approaching the tavern from the north. The soldiers are wearing the same hodge-podge of leather and scale as the guards who tried to extort you at the town's front gate. These must be "the Boots" that the folks at the tavern were talking about -- the mercenaries who run the city, in lieu of Jeceau soldiers. The ogres are walking in single-file, carrying something on their shoulders -- two long wooden poles suspending a small, ornate carriage with curtained windows and without wheels. Virginia Pix looks suddenly alarmed. Her eyes flare and she exclaims, "Oh shit! My boss! I need to get outta here!" She grabs Wheat and together they run off. The soldiers fan out in front of the tavern, and the ogres gently place the carriage on the ground. A curtain sweeps aside and out steps a morbidly obese bald Gnomish gentleman in noble's attire. Mr. Bundy first sends his men to check and make sure the fighting has stopped. He asks his men to go around back and check on "my stables" to make sure there's no damage. Then he takes pleasure in seeing what's happened to the Snapping Turtle Tavern. He offers to pay Jerri for the cost of repairs. Jerri angrily refuses. Next, Mr. Bundy is impressed by the party's obvious combat prowess. He offers them employment. "The Boots could use more brutes like you." He will pay you each 2 silver per day to go around town collecting payments owed by various folks. The other soldiers give him a startled look, as though 2 silver is a lot more than they make. If the party refuses, Mr. Bundy will quietly invite them to his gambling parlor, hidden behind Bodger's Skiffs and Cargo. Ask for a "Fisherman's Special." Mr. Bundy will then leave.